The present invention relates to liquid drainage systems, and more particularly to urine drainage systems.
Urine drainage systems, such as urine meters, have been proposed in the past. Such systems may comprise a receptacle having a chamber, a container having a cavity, a catheter, and a drainage tube communicating between the catheter and receptacle. The catheter is passed through the urethra of a patient until a drainage eye in a distal portion of the catheter is located in the patient's bladder. During use, urine drains from the bladder through the drainage eye, the catheter, and drainage tube into the receptacle where the urine output is collected and measured.
In one form, the system may have a conduit communicating between an upper portion of the chamber and an upper portion of the cavity. When it is desirable to empty urine from the receptacle, such as when it is full, the receptacle is tilted, and the urine passes from the chamber through the conduit into the cavity for retention therein. Normally, the receptacle would be provided with a vent in an upper portion of the receptacle having a bacteria filter in order to facilitate the emptying procedure from the receptacle into the container. However, it is desirable to prevent contact of the filter by the urine when the receptacle is being emptied, since such contact may render the filter inoperable. Also, it is desirable to prevent the reflux of urine into the drainage tube, since such refluxing urine may contain bacteria which may by retrograde movement pass from the drainage tube into the bladder with possible deleterious results to the patient.